Led by former-President John Tyler of Virginia, who had as a young man met Thomas Jefferson, the Washington Peace Convention vainly sought compromise with intransigent Republicans of the North. The latter preferred bloodshed to peace, and used the independence movement of the South as a pretext for war.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Republicans in No Mind to Prevent War:
“In the dark hours of January, 1861, when the Cotton States were withdrawing from the Union, the eyes of many turned to [attorney George Davis of Wilmington] for inspiration and guidance; and when the North Carolina Assembly appointed delegates to a National Convention, seeking some settlement of the sectional issues that would restore and preserve the Union, Mr. Davis was selected as one of them, his associates being Chief Justice [Thomas] Ruffin, Governor [John] Morehead, Governor [David] Reid, and Daniel M. Barringer.
The Convention met at Washington February 4th, and was attended by delegates from nearly every State except those on the Pacific, and those that had seceded. At the outset, however, Salmon P. Chase [of Ohio] negatived the idea that the North would make any concession, declaring that “the election must be regarded as a triumph of principles cherished in the hearts of the people of the Free States, while Mr. Lincoln urged his friends, “No step backward.”
All resolutions were referred to a grand committee. Nine days passed with no report. At length, on the tenth day, the committee reported a proposition for a constitutional amendment composed of seven sections. Two weeks elapsed in secret session, the South awaiting the result of its appeal to the Union sentiment of the North – in anxious suspense.
On the 27th Mr. Davis telegraphed: “The Convention has just adjourned. North Carolina voted against every article except one.” In the Convention each State had a single vote, cast by a majority of its delegates. Davis, Reid and Barringer determined the action of North Carolina, Ruffin and Morehead accepting the propositions, not because they were at all satisfactory, but with the hope of preventing war.
The Republicans in Congress, however, had no mind to prevent war. [Zachariah] Chandler, of Michigan, gave voice to their purposes when he declared in the Senate: “No concession; no compromise; aye! Gove us strife, even blood, before a yielding to the demands of traitorous insolence!”
Union sentiment was in the ascendant in North Carolina [in February, 1861]; but among the people of the Cape Fear section the hope of an amicable adjustment had almost faded away. On the return of Mr. Davis the citizens of Wilmington invited him to address them, and he immediately complied. He declared that he had gone to the Peace Convention determined to exhaust every honorable means to obtain a fair, honorable and final settlement of existing difficulties. He had striven to that end, to the best of his abilities, but had been unsuccessful, for he “could never accept the plan adopted by the Convention as consistent with the rights, the interests, or the dignity of North Carolina.”
The recommendations of the Peace Convention, as favorable as it was to the North, however, was not accepted by the malignants in Congress. President [James] Buchanan had declared that he would never embrue his hands in the blood of his countrymen; but after a fortnight of vacillation, war was determined on by Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet….When it came – when the only question presented was whether we should fight with or against the South – all differences among our people ceased.”
(George Davis, Attorney-General of the Confederate States, Address Delivered Before the Supreme Court of North Carolina, October 19, 1915, Samuel A’Court Ashe, Edwards & Broughton Printing, 1916, pp. 9-10)
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Republicans in No Mind to Prevent War:
“In the dark hours of January, 1861, when the Cotton States were withdrawing from the Union, the eyes of many turned to [attorney George Davis of Wilmington] for inspiration and guidance; and when the North Carolina Assembly appointed delegates to a National Convention, seeking some settlement of the sectional issues that would restore and preserve the Union, Mr. Davis was selected as one of them, his associates being Chief Justice [Thomas] Ruffin, Governor [John] Morehead, Governor [David] Reid, and Daniel M. Barringer.
The Convention met at Washington February 4th, and was attended by delegates from nearly every State except those on the Pacific, and those that had seceded. At the outset, however, Salmon P. Chase [of Ohio] negatived the idea that the North would make any concession, declaring that “the election must be regarded as a triumph of principles cherished in the hearts of the people of the Free States, while Mr. Lincoln urged his friends, “No step backward.”
All resolutions were referred to a grand committee. Nine days passed with no report. At length, on the tenth day, the committee reported a proposition for a constitutional amendment composed of seven sections. Two weeks elapsed in secret session, the South awaiting the result of its appeal to the Union sentiment of the North – in anxious suspense.
On the 27th Mr. Davis telegraphed: “The Convention has just adjourned. North Carolina voted against every article except one.” In the Convention each State had a single vote, cast by a majority of its delegates. Davis, Reid and Barringer determined the action of North Carolina, Ruffin and Morehead accepting the propositions, not because they were at all satisfactory, but with the hope of preventing war.
The Republicans in Congress, however, had no mind to prevent war. [Zachariah] Chandler, of Michigan, gave voice to their purposes when he declared in the Senate: “No concession; no compromise; aye! Gove us strife, even blood, before a yielding to the demands of traitorous insolence!”
Union sentiment was in the ascendant in North Carolina [in February, 1861]; but among the people of the Cape Fear section the hope of an amicable adjustment had almost faded away. On the return of Mr. Davis the citizens of Wilmington invited him to address them, and he immediately complied. He declared that he had gone to the Peace Convention determined to exhaust every honorable means to obtain a fair, honorable and final settlement of existing difficulties. He had striven to that end, to the best of his abilities, but had been unsuccessful, for he “could never accept the plan adopted by the Convention as consistent with the rights, the interests, or the dignity of North Carolina.”
The recommendations of the Peace Convention, as favorable as it was to the North, however, was not accepted by the malignants in Congress. President [James] Buchanan had declared that he would never embrue his hands in the blood of his countrymen; but after a fortnight of vacillation, war was determined on by Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet….When it came – when the only question presented was whether we should fight with or against the South – all differences among our people ceased.”
(George Davis, Attorney-General of the Confederate States, Address Delivered Before the Supreme Court of North Carolina, October 19, 1915, Samuel A’Court Ashe, Edwards & Broughton Printing, 1916, pp. 9-10)
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